Nine Crimes
by kingandlionheart
Summary: To be excruciatingly honest, I believed that my certainty in my identity and purpose was solid. I believed I knew what world I belonged to, but my journey skewed my perception and made me question who's allegiance I devoted myself to.
1. prologue

_Leave me out with the waste_  
_ This is not what I'd do_  
_ It's the wrong kind of place_  
_ To be thinking of you_  
_ It's the wrong time_  
_ For somebody new_  
_ It's a small crime_  
_ And I've got no excuse_

* * *

The air of the Makai was thick and stagnant, yet the air that filled my lungs, though heavy, comforted me. I savored the last few deep breathes I would consume of this air for a length of time that I wasn't yet sure of. The harsh sun was setting, making the usual rose hue of the sky turn a menacingly deep red, the color of blood. The sunset helped to create shadows, cast by the hulking trees of the forest.

For the moment I took shelter in the rough, purple leaves of the trees as the sound of giant spikes piercing the course soil could be heard echoing around the surrounding area; a sign that the patrols of the border were not far off. I sneered as the thought entered my mind that at any moment my comrades would commandeer the carrier, making my escape into the Nigenkai seamless while simultaneously wiping out one of our leaders oldest and strongest enemies. The dethroned red queen, one could say.

The sharp bangs of the insect-like transport began to fade and I leapt from the branches of the tree, darting toward the opposite edge of the forest that doubled as the edge of my world. My double-ended daggers, specially designed by my father, were tucked into the front of the human pants my father's adviser had acquired for my departure. The glow from the seam in the dimensions crept closer and closer as I spirited onward and I crouched gracefully, sliding across the tightly packed dirt and into the seam.

My breathe was knocked out of me as I entered the limbo between the Makai and the Ningenkai, but I wasted no time in gathering my senses and was quick to conceal my energy. I barreled through dense blackness toward a cross-work of gold; the Makai Barrier. My body lengthened into the form of a dive as I glided through a square of the barrier.

As I passed the barrier, the tension in my shoulders automatically lessened. The biggest hurtle of my journey was over. I manifested shortly afterword in an alley formed by the signature looming structures of the large human metropolises I had only before heard stories of. Despite myself, I couldn't shake the smug smirk that hung on my lips.

"Almost too easy," I murmured to myself as I concealed my daggers behind my jacket and slinked from the alley. I turned right and blended into the sea of twittering humans surrounding me.

* * *

**an:** yeah i don't even know, just trying to fight my writer's block and indulge in my love for hiei. lyric and story title credit to nine crimes by damien rice.


	2. one

_I still owe money to the money to the money I owe_  
_ I never thought about love when I thought about home_  
_ I still owe money to the money to the money I owe_  
_ The floors are falling out from everybody I know_  
_ I'm on a blood buzz_  
_Yes I am_

* * *

The first thing that struck me about the human world was the constant buzzing noises surrounding me. The humans' means of transportation, cars, were crude and obnoxious contraptions. Their horns peeled and engines whined as they zipped past me through the city. It seemed to me that every human chose to travel this way, even if the sidewalks were as packed as the streets.

I absentmindedly reached into my jacket and fingered a dagger. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, to be surrounded by so many of these creatures. Creatures I had never been around, though I had more in common with them then I'd care to admit.

Eventually I grew tired of meandering through the sea of people, so I decided to enter the first restaurant I saw. My father's warning to blend in as best as possible rang in my mind, so I figured I might as well jump in head first, starting with human food.

Small bells rattled against the glass of the door as I entered the small shop. I took in the surroundings of the restaurant as I seated myself at the bar. It was a quaint establishment, with only a few humans dotting the small oak bar, and a handful littered the tables that occupied the rest of the floor.

"Can I help you?" a small voice asked me. My head jerked as my attention was drawn to the girl that addressed me. She had soft brown hair and the kindness of her soft smile reached to her large brown eyes.

"Uh, well," I stumbled on my words, not knowing the names of any food I could order. "Could I get a menu?"

"Of course!" she replied to me as she handed me a paper with pictures of various dishes of on it.

The girl walked away as I scanned the menu, but for some reason she held my attention more than the choices of food. And then it hit me, like train running of the tracks.

Someone was here, someone powerful... someone not exactly human. The creature's power was so tangible in the air that I could literally smell it, causing me to cough incessantly.

"You sick?" a voice questioned me. I looked up and gasped.

I began to curse myself as I looked into the eyes of the man that had addressed me. This was the person that I was warned, without a doubt, to avoid during my time in the Ningenkai.

_"The Mazakou is an earth-dweller now, also an ex-spirit detective. You could easily draw attention to us by just being in his presence."_

For a moment I considered bolting out of the shop without a word, but if he was as formidable as I had heard, then that would leave my impression full of nothing but suspicion. So it left me nothing but my charm to rely on.

"I don't think so," I finally replied, coughing again for good measure. "It's the smog, you know? Not good for the lungs."

"Tell me about it," he replied, his arms going back to cradle his head as he gazed out the window, but his eyes betrayed that that was not what his mind was seeing. "This air is so heavy, makes me wanna leave the city all together sometimes."

"Don't you dare!" I heard the woman from before scold him as she joined us. "Yusuke just loves to travel, sometimes he doesn't even tell _me _when he leaves," she teased, sliding her arm around his middle.

I gave her a knowing smile. "Men, huh?" I sympathized. I looked down at the menu and pointed at a random noodle dish. "Could I get some of this, please?"

"Comin' right up," Yusuke replied as he left his position at the front of the bar and rounded to the grills.

"Forgive me," the girl began as she started cutting vegetables for my dish on the counter opposite the bar. "But I couldn't help noticing your eyes, they're so vibrant!"

I brushed off the compliment with a small smile. "Thank you! My father swears I could see in the dark, with how bright they are. I swear with my luck, they'll make me go blind sooner or later," I jeered.

The girl responded with a tinkling laugh. "Oh, psh! I wish I had eyes like that, I get tired of the same boring brown."

"Nonsense!" I replied. "Brown eyes are steady, and yours are just as pretty as they are confident."

She blushed at this. "You hear that, Yusuke? He always calls them the color of dirt," she whispered to me, her hand covering her words from him.

"I heard that, Keiko!" he yelled back over the sizzle of the pan. She just giggled and pinched his arm as she poured the chopped vegetables into the skillet.

A sharp clatter rang from above us, causing all in the room to look at the ceiling. "What the hell?" Yusuke grumbled as he poured my meal into a bowl. He placed the bowl in front of me along with some chopsticks then turned to Keiko. "I'm tired of that damn cat you insisted on keeping, Keiko. It's destroying the house."

Keiko leveled Yusuke with an indignant look. "Dew could not make a racket that loud, Yusuke. Why don't you go see what it is?"

Yusuke's eyes widened, then he bolted for the stairs leading to what I assumed was their apartment without another word. I knew he had taken the time to sense the demon energy that had manifested in the surrounding around following the boom.

"Do you ever get a moment of peace?" I asked Keiko while I slurped up my noodles. If I had to admit it, the food was much better than anything I had ever tasted in the Makai.

"Not at all," she sighed as she began to load dirtied plates in a large, plastic bin. "Yusuke has never been one for peace. Him or his friends."

"Pity," I mused as more bangs began to escape from upstairs.

Keiko made a face as she looked at the ceiling again. She made for the stairs but a black flash cut past her, blocking her way and sending her reeling. She blinked widely as she clung to the wall, trying to find her balance. Yusuke was bounding down the stairs two by two behind the flash that had quickly materialized as a man, only inches taller than my slight frame, in the middle of the restaurant. By this time only I and three other customers were there and all of our eyes had been drawn to the man. He was clad in all black, save a white headband, and his energy poured off of him. It was extremely potent, and almost as strong as Yusuke's, though it was fully demon. His presence alone made me uncomfortable, he seemed much more astute than the Mazakou.

"Hiei!" Yusuke scolded as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The man called Hiei offered a simple 'hn' as a response. He was scanning the restaurant and his gaze lingered on me for a moment longer than I would have liked. I resisted the urge to fidget as I bit into a slice of cabbage.

"Had any visitors lately, Yusuke?" the black-clad man asked as he continue to scan the restaurant. His gaze was intense, so much so that it made one man uncomfortable enough to deposit some human money and leave the building entirely.

"Don't think so," Yusuke responded as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Is something wrong, Hiei?" Keiko asked nervously, her eyes darting between the demon and her husband.

"Why don't you close up a little early today?" Hiei replied pointedly as he turned his attention to Yusuke. "And why don't you ask her to stay?" he asked, pointing directly at me.

* * *

**an: **song credit to bloodbuzz ohio by the national. read and review!


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